Borough Appoints New Attorney Due to Illness

The Borough Council appointed a new attorney for the remainder of the year on Monday because its former attorney, Madison resident Joseph Mezzacca Jr., and has a "long road to recovery," Mayor Bob Conley said.

Conley asked residents to keep Mezzacca in their thoughts and prayers.

Additional information about Mezzacca's condition wasn't immediately known.

Matthew Giacobbe, the borough's labor attorney who was filling in for Mezzacca on Monday as he had at the previous two meetings, was appointed the attorney for the remainder of the year in a unanimous vote.

Giacobbe, a partner in Cleary Giacobbe Alfieri Jacobs, LLC, "focuses his practice on representing public and private sector management in all aspects of labor and employment law," according to the firm's website. Giacobbe often obtains concessions from unions in labor negotiations, and routinely advises clients on personnel matters including termination, employee discipline and employee rights, the website says.

He has litigated labor-related lawsuits, and written articles and given lectures on labor and employment law.

Before entering private sector practice, Giacobbe served as judicial law clerk for U.S. District Judge Garrett Brown for the District of New Jersey. Giacobbe earned his law degree from Seton Hall University in 1993 and his bachelor's degree from Rutgers College in 1989.